By Ameer Ali –

Dr. Ameer Ali

“The Zionists indeed learnt well from the Nazis. So well that it seems that their morally repugnant treatment of Palestinians, and their attempt to destroy Palestinian society within Israel and the occupied territories, reveals them as basically Nazis with beards and black hats” ~ (Norman Finklestein)  

Amidst a chorus of worldwide voice of protests and criticisms against the indiscriminate killing of thousands of men, women and children in Gaza; merciless destruction of houses, hospitals, churches, mosques and educational facilities; and barbaric denial of food, water, electricity and fuel to the entire population of Gaza, Prime Minister Netanyahu realized that he had to convince at least his own people whose support is waning, why that genocide was necessary. One should remember that his government is a coalition of seven parties of far-right factions that recently faced weeks of public protests against government’s interference with judiciary. There is also within Israel a strong progressive peace-loving element and humanitarian groups like B’Tselem that are critical of the government’s indiscriminate violence and apartheid policies against Palestinians. Hence, Netanyahu decided to address the nation and reminded the people of what happened to the Biblical Amalekites when they attacked the Jews after crossing the Red Sea and encamping in Rephidim in Sinai Desert. The story goes that Moses commanded Joshua to take an elite of soldiers the next day to fight against the attackers and the Jews defeated the Amalek at the end. Following that victory God was said to have promised to completely wipe out even the memory of Amalek from earth and to wage war against them in every generation and until eternity. The story concludes that God’s name and throne would not be complete until the Amalek were destroyed. This Biblical story advanced to justify the genocide in Gaza also fits into the dehumanizing vocabulary of Netanyahu and his acolytes about Palestinians, and Israel’s determination to wipe them out from the earth. Does it mean Israel has a divine right to exterminate Palestinians? Let the Bible experts explain the relevance of this ancient episode for Netanyahu to justify his genocide.

On another occasion he also tried to justify the killing of children and civilians by citing an incident in 1944, when the British Royal Airforce tried to bomb the Gestapo in Copenhagen, but missed the target and bombed a children hospital instead. In that incident children were the unintended victims. But Israeli army had been targeting children and killing them just for throwing stones at army vehicles. However, Netanyahu’s selective reading of history to find excuses for policy dictated crimes should not go unpunished. But who will punish him and his cabal of exterminators? 

Haaretz, the most respected weekly publication in North America said in one of its editorials, “The Disaster that befell Israel on the holiday of Sima Chat Torah is the clear responsibility of one person, Benjamin Netanyahu”, and it went on to add that he “ … completely failed to identify the dangers he has consciously leading Israel into when establishing a government of annexation and dispossession”. And Gideon Levy, a respected senior Journalist insisted in a TV interview that, “Israel should lift the siege and call off the plan for ground invasion of Gaza”.  Gideon also felt that at the end of this war, Netanyahu and his war cabinet would pay a heavy prize for what they had done. War crimes against the prime minister and his chief consultants are piling up by the day.  What is more, Israelis themselves are now asking for a full disclosure of what happened on 7^th October. They obviously smell a rat.       

This was not the first time that Israel attacked Gaza. According to B’Tselem, in the previous four military operations of 2009, 2012, 2014 and 2021 Israel killed a total of 7759 of which 1741 were children and 572 were women. And according to another source, between October 9 and 26 2023, 7028 had been killed of which 2913 were children and 1709 were women. This means and according to the same source, just in 18 days more Palestinian children had been killed than in the past 23 years. Is this what Netanyahu called “justified vengeance”? In her interview with Georger Yancy of TRUTHOUT, the Jewish Professor Judith Butler of University of California aptly summed up what is going on in Gaza. “This is not a “conflict” between two parties” she said, “but a form of violent dispossession that dates back to 1948, if not before, and constitutes not a new Nakba, but the continuation of one that has never stopped for millions of people”. 

More than a million so far are said to have left their homes from south of Gaza, and hundreds have been killed in the West Bank also. There is news that Egypt is preparing to open the narrow Rafah crossing in Sinai for the stranded Gazans. It appears that Israel is prepared to write off a part of Egypt’s financial debt in return for accommodating Gazans. Is the world going to witness the Palestinians ending in Sinai just as Jews crossed the Red Sea and encamped there? But where is the new Moses, may we ask.     

It is heartening to learn that Chile and Colombia had recalled their respective Ambassadors from Israel, and Bolivia too had suspended all connections with that government. Of the Arab countries, only Jordan has announced the withdrawal of its ambassador. Saudi Arabia has only condemned Israel’s atrocities. Why are the Arab rulers so meek in confronting Israel? Are they still thinking of honeymooning with Israel to satisfy the grand master US? The gulf between the wishes of ordinary Arabs and their rulers are widening. In the 1980s and after the Iranian revolution there was widespread cry in the Arab as well as Muslim world for a New Islamic Order. It died down prematurely. In 2011, the Arab Spring broke out in Egypt demanding ‘bread and honour’ and spread to other parts of the Arab world demanding democracy. Once again, the old order was restored with a vengeance and Arab Spring ended in winter. Now Netanyahu is turning Gaza into ashes, dead bodies are buried along roadsides, and the living are on the move. FBI Chief in US warns of domestic terrorism resulting from the mayhem in Gaza. But would the Arab world explode before that?   

*Dr. Ameer Ali, Murdoch Business School, Murdoch University, W. Australia